Ong-bak

Version: Edko's Hong Kong VCD release

In only their first movie, director Prachya Pinkaew and lead actor Tony Jaa have created a very impressive, awesome action movie in "Ong Bak". Jaa plays Ting, a muay thai fighter from a small village in Thailand. The villagers revere Ong Bak, a statue of Buddha kept in the village's temple, and believe it guarantees the safety of the village. Don, a former villager turned criminal, removes the head from the statue and takes it to Bangkok, to curry favour from the crime lord Khom Tuan. Ting follows Don to Bangkok and fights for the return of Ong Bak.

Story wise, its a pretty standard action movie - it touches briefly on serious social issues in Thailand, but only very briefly. Action wise, its a pretty awesome action movie. Tony Jaa is pretty good showing off his muay thai skills on screen as he fights a range opponents. Most of the one-on-one fights are well choreographed and quite intense. As for stunts: some of them would make even old-school Jackie Chan green with envy. Jaa and Pinkaew have hit the nail right on the head when it comes to action movies, and in only their first go!

9/10 - Hopefully I can catch it on the big screen some time.

In terms of sheer athleticism and martial artistry, Tony Jaa certainly lives up to his billing as 'the Next Bruce Lee'. He puts the kick into this quick-fry Thai fightfest that mixes dynamic set-pieces with skull-splitting one-on-ones. It should also remind fans of the Crouching Hero, Flying Dagger brand of Eastern blockbuster (including myself) that Oriental action cinema was founded on action without safety nets, never mind all that fancy wirework and colour-coordinated mysticism.

But for all his physical prowess, Jaa falls short of Bruce Lee (and even Jet Li) when it comes to charisma, sounding nervous and looking slightly uncomfortable in the action-free scenes. Director Pinkaew perhaps recognises that Jaa will need time to build his own screen persona, so wisely gives him very little to say. I wish the same could be said of screechy female sidekick Muay who is both an irritation and a distraction. However, quibbling too much about the acting would be churlish.

Who cares that the plot's straight out of The A-Team when the adrenaline flows this thick and fast? The foot pursuit through Bangkok's backstreets is not just five minutes of pure exhilaration, it turns a few chase clichés on their heads (uh-oh, look out for those two guys carrying panes of glass across the road… hold on a minute!). There are even replays of the most jaw-dropping bits so that you can believe what you just saw.

Ting lives in a village where they worship the statue of Ong-bak. When an unscrupulous young man comes to the village to buy valuable goods, he steals the head and returns to Bangkok where he gives it to his boss – a crime lord who presides over illegal pit fights and steals historical artefacts. Ting goes to Bangkok to join up with former villager Humlae (who now is a street hustler and calls himself George). However, once there, he finds that the only way to get the head back is to kick and elbow people. Lots.

Before I talk about the main (only?) reason to see this film, let me at least pretend that it is meant to operate like a normal film and look at the traditional aspects that give a film value – plot, acting, characters etc. First off, the plot is very basic, so basic that really I could have done it in a sentence and still given you more than you needed to know. Happily it only really last 15 minutes before we are given the first of many, many action scenes. Within this basic frame it is no surprise that none of the characters work or are developed to a point were we care about them – this is a given, but why then did the film still labour under the idea that we did? I didn't care that much for any of them, because none were written as people – only action figures or one-note characters (ie the girl who is suffering due to crime, the crimelord, the middleman etc etc).

With this, perhaps it is no surprise that the performances are roundly average. Wongkamlao is pretty funny but can't do much more than that – but he looks like Brando at his best compared to the wooden and unconvincing Yodkamol. The rest of the cast fill their genre cliché shoes well enough; leaving us with the reason we are here – Jaa himself. Now, as an actor, he needs work – he can't really deliver a character, seems unsure of how to handle comedy and, despite having a good screen presence, didn't convince delivering dialogue neither. However, none of this really matters does it? I didn't come for plot, narrative, script, acting or directing – I came to se people get kicked and, by god, that is what this film delivers.

Without wires and without special effects, the fight scenes had the cinema audibly reacting with gasps and groans as Jaa did things that did not seem possible but also delivered some very, very brutal moves that made even the toughest in the room wince. Of course, a film that relies solely on action is never going to be one that manages to win praise beyond the bounds of the genre, but it helps that, within that genre it blows away a lot of competition and justifies its UK wide cinema release. Rest assured, it is stunning at times and, although it niggles that the film is set around the action (as opposed to vice versa) it is forgivable when it is this enjoyable! Overall, not a brilliant film by any means but one that really delivers in terms of what it sets out to do. Action fans will love it and those that thing martial arts started with the Matrix will find out just how much more compelling action is whenever it isn't being produced on a hard drive somewhere. With a plot so basic, acting so poor and characters so thin, it speaks volumes about the quality of the action that I was engaged and entertained from start (well, ten minutes in) to finish.

Each decade ,the cinema produces a new martial arts hero .On the years 70s ,from Hong Kong arrived Bruce Lee,the Kung Fu hero whose shadow still moves about the cinematographic industry, thus successors were Wang Yu,Sonny Chiba,Sammo Hung...At the years 80s decade was Jackie Chan and still continuing.His amazing slickness united with a great humor sense and risk converted him in an international star.Also in years 8os were Japan and the Ninjas whose principal representation was Sho Kosugi.At the years 90s,Jet Li defied the gravity in a films series that would make a revolution in chop-socky genre.Today in this decade and with a new century has originated a new star.He comes from Thailand and is called Tony Jaa.

The picture deals about robbery a Buda head (Ong Bak) which is adored by a village people.A young,the Muay Thai warrior,is assigned to retrieve it, and he flies to the city where is allegedly found .Colourful,Backock-set chopsocky big budget, leave no cliché untouched,but fights are well staged with spectacular pursuits of Thailand typical cars.,He'll fight for a big match which turns out to be fixed by a local mobster .For a little more entertainment ,our hero saves an abducted girl and struggles a hired killers. The movie is well directed by Pinkaew. The motion picture will like to martial arts fans.

Saying that Ong Bak was a bad movie because of the weak story is like saying that the Simpsons is a bad series because of the lack of continuity from show to show.

YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT! The story is only there to loosely tie together the fact that this guy is being a badass. Which he is. There were only a FEW fight scenes? What are you talking about? There were so many fight scenes and chase scenes and the like. Every time you thought you saw the coolest thing ever, he breaks out another move that STILL totally blows you away. The only reason that this movie exists is simply to showcase Phanom Yeerum's skills as a martial artist and an acrobat, which frankly, is enough for me.

*sigh* If you care so much about story, steer clear. If you have any interest whatsoever is the GENRE of martial arts movies (where the quality of the story is usually not the primary concern), watch this movie. You won't be sorry.